Exit Humanity

When I choose a flick to watch, 9 times outta’ 10 I kinda’ cringe when I see the cover art emblazoned with “atta boy” quotes from obscure people, websites, or paper publications.

In my experience, they just seem like cheap attempts to build up a movie that is lacking in some obvious way. Placing an “atta boy” quote on your own DVD cover reminds me of that douche bag kid everybody went to school with that would say something ridiculous and back up the claim by telling you to ask a designated cool kid about it. “Dude, it’s awesome. I swear. Go ask so-and-so. He thinks it’s awesome”. So needless to say that when I spotted the “atta boy” quote on the cover of Exit Humanity, my “give a fuck” meter went down a few clicks. But a zombie flick is a zombie flick, and must be watched!

Exit Humanity is a zombie period piece that takes place post Civil War. For reasons unknown, during the bloody battles between the North and South, freshly killed soldiers began to rise with an insatiable hunger for human flesh (zombies, wink*). The story begins with the narration of a journal written by former Southern soldier, Edward Young (Mark Gibson). Young returns home from the war to a wife that has been zombified and a son that is missing without a trace. Edward’s real journey of torment begins as he is forced to put his own wife down like a rabid dog. He then takes off into the brutal, zombie-filled wilderness to search for his lost son.

Exit Humanity is true to it’s title as Edward discovers the depths to which he will plunge in order to survive a zombie apocalypse while hunting for his missing son. I’ll admit, the “atta boy” quote from a random website was absolutely right. Exit Humanity is like The Walking Dead in the Wild West…except I’m pretty sure it’s set in the Wild East. There are moments during the movie when I thought that the costume designer must have had one too many bong loads while playing Assassin’s Creed and watching Van Helsing, but overall I thought Exit Humanity was a decent addition to the zombie sub-genre.

I dug the narration that hearkened back to the letters of Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The special effects weren’t exactly mind blowing even when the zombies were getting their minds blown out, but it didn’t take away much from the overall feel of the flick. For a movie that I’m pretty sure didn’t have a Walking Dead sized budget, Exit Humanity did manage to land epic familiar names like Dee Wallace (E.T) and Bill fuckin’ Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects). All in all I would recommend this flick to fans of zombies, period pieces, and Westerns. And now I’m gonna feel like a tremendous douche bag when I say “Dude, it’s awesome. I swear. Go ask Fleabag Jake. He thinks it’s awesome…well, he will if he’s seen it”.